Good things come not only in small packages, but also obscure and unique ones. Take the Corsair 2000D case, a new mini-ITX small form factor chassis that quickly grabbed our attention. Shaped similarly to the Xbox Series X, it has the potential to fit into a multitude of setups without sacrificing performance. This chassis follows Corsair’s design language from the 4000D and even the behemoth 7000D, but compresses it into a compact and aesthetically pleasing box that will take up less of your valuable desktop or under-TV real estate.
Now, if you know us, you’ll understand that we are fairly accustomed to small form factor machines, and we love seeing what we can build within them (although they aren’t as easy to build in as chassis like the aforementioned huge Corsair 7000D). We love the idea of cramming a powerful system into a small package, and we are aiming to do just that with the Corsair 2000D.
So then, what are some of the goodies we are compiling inside the 2000D mini-ITX case? Well, things are off to a strong start with the CPU choice of the build. One of our favourite picks from Intel’s 13th generation has to be the i5-13600K – it’s one heck of a workhorse, and offers great efficiency, gaming power, and value for money. Continuing on with the bang for buck theme, we have chosen the most affordable 40 series Nvidia GeForce card: the RTX 4060 Ti.
The exact card is Zotac’s Gaming Edge Twin Edge OC card. Overclocked out of the box and coming in at $700, it’s one of the best ways to get yourself into the 40 series range. This card can also run off a 500W PSU, making it ideal for builds with SFX power supplies like this one, where high-wattage SFX PSUs aren’t the easiest to get your hands on. Luckily, we did get a more than adequate solution with Corsair’s SF750 80 Plus Platinum SFX PSU. However, if you don’t want to upgrade your graphics card, you can opt for a cheaper and less powerful solution.
All of these, plus a very snappy duo of Corsair Vengeance DDR5 and an SK Hynix Platinum P41, will be connected in harmony thanks to MSI’s MPG Z790I Edge Wi-Fi Mini ITX, a very capable motherboard to say the least, especially for an ITX board. Yes, this is going to be a fiddly machine, but the end product should certainly be worth the inevitable cable management nightmare that most small form factor builds come with. We are aiming to achieve a compact gaming machine here that can perform at high settings running at 1080p or QHD resolution. It should make for a perfect couch gaming solution.
A LOOK UNDER THE MICROSCOPE
CPU
INTEL CORE I5-13600K
$485 | www.intel.com
It has two fewer cores than an Intel Core i7-13700K, but as it costs nearly $130 less, and this Intel Core i5-13600K does not disappoint. It’s no secret that this 13600K chip is a favourite of ours – in fact, we’d happily recommend Intel’s last generation i5-12600K, as that still stands strong in today’s market. It’s not going to blow you awy, but it should easily last many iterations of hardware changes.
It features 14 cores that are split up into six performance and eight efficient cores via Intel’s hybrid architecture. It has a max turbo frequency of 5.1 GHz, 20 threads, and integrated UHD Graphics 770, as it is the ‘K’ variant. These are healthy stats, and it has never let us down.
